A Post about Food on the EBC Trek Becomes More. Or Is it Less?
There is a difference between basic and simple. Especially when you are traveling.
Recently I posted about accommodation on the EBC trek being basic. A comment from a fellow blogger (thanks Miriam) made me rethink how I had labelled the accommodation. It is the very fact the Everest Base Camp Trek is basic, makes it so good. Basic can be seen as a negative. So simple, not basic, is a better word to use. Because it is the simplicity of the EBC trek that makes it so special.
Day Two Phakding to Monjo 2013 and Phakding to Namche Bazaar 2015
Above is the suspension bridge at Upper Phakding. We stayed at the lodge just above the end of the bridge in the photo on the way back down from our 2013 trek. The bridge on the Everest Base Camp Trek Blog and my donkey video.
PLANNING THE TREK BY THE SEASONS
When planning our trek for late September we expected some rain. Continue reading →
trek n.1. a long difficult journey, esp. on foot 2. a journey or stage, esp by ox wagon 3. make a trek – trekker
Saying Goodbye in Melbourne
In September 2015 my husband and I flew to Nepal to trek to Everest Base Camp. At the departure hall at Melbourne Airport saying goodbyes to our adult daughters, the eldest hugged her father and said
“Dad, go easy on Mum remember it’s her holiday too.” She turned to me and said “Mum, ….man up.”
I had travelled through the Sahara and had explored Timbuktu, had marvelled at Iguazu Falls and the Perito Moreno Glacier. I had lived and experienced life in Milan and Buenos Aires. I was about to set out on a trek that would be the travel adventure of my life, but I didn’t know it.
I sat crying on our couch. My husband and trekking partner wanted to go out on a final training session. I was exhausted from training five times a week and I wanted to cry even at the thought of it. So I cried. He’d pushed it too far. He designed the training plan so we would make it to Everest Base Camp without feeling pain all the way. I had named him The Trainer he had trained us so well.
He had also researched, planned and organised the trek. Now he was weighing my pack and contents and being tough like the The Trainer could be. I could take 5.5 kilos in my back pack and my little pot of lip moisturiser had not made the cut I cut. I would be carrying it up the hills. So I sat on the couch crying with exhaustion and at not being able to take my only luxury item on a trek I didn’t want to go on in the first place.
Yes I agree this is not a brilliant photo. But it is the only one from our Everest Base Camp trek with a reflection. And there were no mirrors either and I could have done with one of those. The EBC Trek equals bad hair days. I’m not sure which is better long hair or short.
Photos of reflections in water are rare on the EBC trek . The rivers are running too fast and are a milky colour. And the lakes are a milky green colour. I searched google images for Gokyo Lakes with reflections and found one. I’d like to know what conditions were needed to get the shot.
You don’t need to be an athlete nor a mountain climber.
You don’t have to be seasoned hiker either. For many people who trek to Base Camp it is their first experience of anything like this. I know because I was one of these people.
With Training Everest Base Camp is achievable for the average person
Training before you go is highly recommended. Your training is part of the bigger journey. It certainly was part of mine. The Trainer kept reminding me, you know the quote, the journey is not just about the destination. Oh and the question of age. I’m in my fifties and there were plenty of people older than me on the trail.
One of favourite days walking into Dingboche past yak pastures.
If you are healthy, have trained and mentally prepared Everest Base Camp is possible. Continue reading →
